Waukesha Type 'I'

Feature Article from Hemmings Motor News

The boys at the Blue Front Garage in Waukesha, Wisconsin, were an enterprising bunch. When customers left their cars there for service, the Blue Front gang had a habit of taking their engines apart to see what made them tick. It looks as though they figured it out, because Waukesha Motor Company started building their own by 1906. They didn't focus on cars (and trucks, tractors and boats); they were also working on replacing steam rigs in oil fields, and they expanded into diesels early on.

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By 1909, they were no longer taking engines out of cars: they were putting them in. The Type "I" was a four-cylinder, 20 to 25 horsepower multipurpose powerplant "for runabouts, taxicabs, towncars and industrial purposes."
With a four-inch bore and stroke combining for 202-cu.in., we believe this was the smallest engine in their lineup, which ranged up to a 5- x 6-inch four-cylinder. Waukesha made all their engines available with self-contained oiling (for $15-$30 extra on the Type "I," which we've seen advertised by Waukesha for anywhere between $315 and $400), a marked improvement from the still-common total-loss systems of the day.
To stand up to their one-year guarantee--which included "horse power, material and workmanship," the tough little Waukesha used cylinders cast in pairs in cast iron, with split cast-iron pistons and blind hole heads. The crankcase is aluminum alloy, with supporting arms integral to the upper half. Bearings throughout are Parson's White Brass, except for three 1½-inch babbitt mains. The whole thing is about 34 inches long, and comes in under 360 pounds.
In a rare success story, Waukesha is not only still a going concern today, but they're in exactly the same line of work they always were, although they became part of Dresser in 1956. The other difference is that their top-of-the-line natural gas-fueled ATGL powerplant displaces 17,398-cu.in. and makes 4,830hp. Not bad for three guys who started out taking apart the engines of the cars they were supposed to be washing.

This article originally appeared in the October, 2007 issue of Hemmings Motor News.